‘Need to put in more efforts in grooming future leaders of technology field’
Experts discuss pre- and post-FIFA World Cup technology trends at seminar
EXPERTS discussed preand post-FIFA World Cup 2022 technology trends at a seminar organised by Pakistan Engineers Forum (PEF) Qatar in coordination with Cytellect Community on TNG School Secondary Campus, Al Wakra, recently.
The event commenced with the recitation of Holy Quran by Shaheer Bakali, co-founder of Cytellect. Housekeeping guidelines were presented by Qaisar Answer while Fahad Ismail moderated the event.
Ahmad Javaid, founder of Cytellect, a forum for cyber intellectuals, introduced the Cytellect community by presenting its purpose and achievements. This community, he noted, is a non-commercial, non-political knowledgesharing community for cyber intellectuals from any part of the globe. Its prime focus is on CXOs to nurture fresh talent and train juniors to be able to contribute to the community to reduce the technology talent deficit in the region.
Imran Chowdhury, global head of Digital Privacy from Al Jazeera, highlighted the importance of preventive measures to protect sensitive information from privacy breaches. He elaborated on the principles and accountabilities for digital privacy management systems and further elaborated the key components of effective privacy measures such as consent management, data subject rights, and the lawful basis for processing Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Dr Muhammad Ali Malik, head of Information Security Assurance from the media industry, presented the personality traits of cyber leaders. He emphasised the need for leaders to have a stronger understanding of the business as compared to the underlying technology infrastructure in order to effectively protect the critical assets of businesses from cyber breaches. Cyber leaders, he noted, should hold the mindset of cyber resilience and be enablers to the business. “Cyber leaders require to improvise their competency level to be able to mitigate the risks of emerging technologies,” he explained.
This seminar also included a panel discussion, which was moderated by Noor Hassan, co-founder of Cytellect. The panel was shared by Imran Chowdhury, global head of Digital Privacy, Al Jazeera;
Ishtiaque Hussain, CEO of UTI Cybersecurity, Cloud and IT LLC; Ahmad Javaid, founder of Cytellect Community; and Farhan Khan, vice president of Global Sales & Business Development.
The panellists highlighted how technology has evolved right from the industrial revolution era when the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, Continental Europe and the United States occurred. Significant technological developments such as steam power, mechanization, integrated circuits, and electronics took place right up to
the information age now. The panellists said that by 2025, nearly 100 billion devices would be connected to the Internet, 15 times more than the earth’s human population. Therefore, technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, Cloud Computing, and Security & Cybersecurity are to be foreseen to evolve rapidly in the future.
The panellists then touched upon how technology was an integral component in preparations for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The creation and use of the ‘Hayya Card’ for instance, which is not only used as a means of identification for all ticket holders of the tournament, but also provides a number of other services such as the provision of transport via Qatar Rail/Mowasalat.
The panellists also elaborated the implementation of a semi-automated referee offside technology feature. There are 12 cameras installed on the football fields operating at 50 frames per second (FPS) monitoring every player in real-time. Any foul would immediately be captured with the help of this technology.
Technologies emerging post the FIFA World Cup are cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), and drone technology. However, one of the risks associated with the adoption or implementation of these technologies is unemployment as technological dependency is inversely proportional to human dependency, they noted.
The panellists then touched upon the skillset deficit being encountered in these emerging technologies. The emphasis was on upgrading one’s profile from traditional roles such as a system specialist or a network engineer to the latest indemand roles such as a threat intelligence specialist, AI implementer, etc.
Abdul Khaliq from the Pakistan Embassy appreciated the efforts of PEF and Cytellect and stressed the need to put in more efforts in grooming future leaders in the technology field.
Riyaz Bakali, president of PEF, thanked the guest speakers and participants. He appreciated the efforts of the team to organise the seminar and the valuable insights experts shared during the presentation and panel discussion.
The event concluded with an award-giving ceremony where all participants were given certificates of participation.
The event commenced with the recitation of Holy Quran by Shaheer Bakali, co-founder of Cytellect. Housekeeping guidelines were presented by Qaisar Answer while Fahad Ismail moderated the event.